To celebrate the launch of their most recent line of bags, Egyptian luxury label Okhtein tapped 31-year-old director and filmmaker Ahmed Razeek to bring the new collection’s essence to life. Inspired by the dunes, rocks, and palm trees of Siwa, an urban oasis located 50 kilometers away from the Libyan border, the new range, made up of 20 different models coming in over 70 different colorways, channels the spirit, beauty, and textured richness of the natural wonder to create a set of pieces that come as a love letter to the brand’s roots and savoir-faire.
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“We’ve spent years watching Egypt get flattened to fit into one narrative” Razeek told MILLE. “This was my chance to show another side, one that is real, spiritual, alive. Siwa gave us that space while Okhtein gave us the freedom to tell it” he added.
Created for their Spring/Summer 2025 season, the visual rollout of the campaign unfolded in two main parts: the teaser film, which set the emotional tone and visual language of the collection; and a series of carousels, focusing on the details of every bag whilst making them the main character of their dedicated post.
As the collection continues to unveil itself, we caught up with Razeek to discover more about the campaign, the creative process, and what it took to craft such a body of visual work.
This campaign was a collaboration between yourself and Okhtein. What initially brought you together?
Ahmed Razeek: It happened really naturally. We’d been wanting to do something together for a while, and this just felt like the right project. They gave me full trust from the start. We had a lot of freedom: they brought their vision and the story behind the bags, and I brought the visuals and the rhythm. The connection was fluid; we built something together instinctively.
How did the idea for the campaign come together?
AR: Okhtein came to me with a collection that was already inspired by Siwa. They explained having a real connection to that place and they wanted the bags to carry something from that energy on. So for me, it was about translating that into visuals.
You shot in Siwa entirely in natural light, why is that?
AR: We didn’t want to shoot in a place that felt too “fashion.” Siwa is raw and it slows you down. It just felt right, not just as a backdrop but as part of the whole story Okhtein was trying to paint.
As for the lighting side of things, in a place like Siwa, it’s everything. It moves, it sculpts the shapes, it carries the emotion. We had a clear structure going in and we knew what we wanted to capture. But once we were on the ground, playing with natural light gave space for things to shift. If the wind changed, we followed it. If the light disappeared, we waited. Shooting in natural light forces you to be present as you can’t fake it. You just have to be ready to react.
The campaign is split into three concepts, what does each one represent?
AR: Each one is built around an element: earth, water, and fire/air. Earth leans towards memories and roots; roots towards emotions, softness and letting go; and fire/air towards freedom. Each chapter represents a different bag, so we decided to separate them and let each one have its own mood, its own world. I didn’t want to force one big linear story. It’s more like three different poems.
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Picutres courtesy of Ahmed Razeek.
The bags feel like characters of their own, how did you approach that?
AR: We treated the bags like symbols. We didn’t start with a script or a plot, we started with feeling. How does this place move? What happens when this bag is in it? So we worked from instinct with textures, sounds, and light. We didn’t overthink any of it. The bags guided us, in a weird way. It was less about selling a product, more about creating a world around it.
It’s not a typical fashion campaign: no spectacle, no big styling. Was that a conscious decision?
AR: Completely! I didn’t want to create something loud or flashy. I wanted the opposite, something quiet, intimate, something that doesn’t try to impress you, but that stays with you.
I think people connect to what feels real, even in fashion. It was important for me to not over-explain; to let the images, their light and rhythm do the talking instead. I wanted to blur the line between campaign and cinema; to create something that lives in that in-between space, where emotion meets visuals, and storytelling isn’t forced.
Is this just the beginning with Okhtein?
AR: I hope it is. It felt good working with people who are open, who trust my vision and who aren’t afraid of experimentation. With Okhtein, what I really want to do is shift the way campaigns are done in the Middle East, to tell stories that translate into something more grounded.
You often talk about showing Egypt under a different light. How does this project align with that vision?
AR: Egypt isn’t just what we usually see in the media. There’s something very spiritual, very still in certain places that you can find in Siwa. I didn’t want to explain Egypt, I just wanted people to feel it the same way I do.
My goal has always been to show the real Egypt, and to put it on the map of fashion, in the way it truly deserves. There’s so much depth, beauty, and talent here. The world just needs to pay attention to it.
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